A lot of people know who Kevin O’Leary, AKA Mr. Wonderful, is from Shark Tank. He’s known for being the tough (some would say rude) investor on the show who isn’t afraid to tell it like it is. His status as a venture capitalist and a successful businessman as well as an entrepreneur isn’t just for show.
Kevin O’Leary has a long history of founding, building, and selling businesses that are accredited to his fame, wealth, and overall impressive net worth. In this post, we’ll discover just how the renowned shark has built his net worth over the years and what it is estimated to be today.
A Brief Introduction to Kevin O’Leary
Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada in 1954, Terence Thomas Kevin O’Leary is the son of an Irish immigrant father and a Lebanese mother. He attended St. Patrick’s High School before going on to study at the University of Waterloo.
After graduating from the Ivey Business School with an MBA, Kevin worked as an independent television producer before joining Boston Ventures, a venture capital firm. It was during his time at Boston Ventures that Kevin helped found SoftKey Software Products—a software company that eventually became The Learning Company (TLC). TLC was acquired by Mattel in 1999 for $3.7 billion, making Kevin a very wealthy man.
In 2001, Kevin co-founded O’Leary Funds—a mutual fund company—and in 2008 he joined the cast of Shark Tank, where he has become known for his ruthless negotiation style and no-nonsense approach to business. He has also written two books: Cold Hard Truth: On Life, Money & Business and Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women & Money.
Now, we go down the path of discovering in detail Kevin O’Leary net worth today.
The Early Life and Education of Kevin O’Leary
Kevin O’Leary’s roots were laid in Quebec, Montreal, on 9th July 1954 with parents Terry O’Leary and Georgette Bookalam and a sibling, Shane. Kevin’s childhood was tumultuous with his parents separating and then the death of his father due to alcohol-related reasons.
This left his mother to raise both the kids by herself until she met George Kanawaty, who later became Kevin’s stepfather. It was his stepfather’s and mother’s work ethics that would inspire Kevin to be the savvy businessman he is today.
After his biological father’s death, his mother took up a job as an executive at a local company. While she worked this job, she came across her future husband, George, who was a United Nations employee. Her husband’s position allowed her family to travel the world frequently.
What Kevin didn’t know about his mother was her impressive side stint as a capable investor, something he was aloof about even after his mother’s death. It was only during the reading of her will that he happened to know about her impressive investment portfolio.
Kevin O’Leary stands by his statement saying that his mother’s heritage as a Lebanese is the biggest driving force behind his past and recent decisions.
Coming to Kevin’s education, he has always been passionate about music and photography which prompted him to take up an honor Bachelor’s degree in Environmental Studies and Psychology at the University of Waterloo.
However, it was with the intervention of Kevin’s stepfather that Kevin set out on the path that today has made him million dollars of his net worth. George advised Kevin that he wasn’t really excelling in the subjects he chose according to his passion and that he should focus more on subjects to build skills he could monetize on.
George went as far as to tell him that he would eventually starve to death if he kept following his passions. Bearing this advice in mind, Kevin took up his MBA at the Western University of Ontario in the Ivey Business School.
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The Start of a Fruitful Career
It was when studying MBA that Kevin O’Leary landed an internship at Nabisco, a brand centered around cat food, working under an Assistant Brand Manager.
Not long after, still fueled by the desire to follow his passions in film and photography, Kevin became a co-founder of the television production, Special Event Television, or SET for short, with two of his MBA colleagues.
There were numerous TV shows that Kevin had the opportunity to produce and work with. With time, he learned how to make entertainment that would captivate the audience, and how to present himself with confidence, act bold, and entertain, all at the same time.
At some point, Kevin decided to opt-out of this venture and one of the co-founders brought out Kevin’s shares for $25,000. With this money in hand, Kevin looked to invest in his next venture, a business of his own.
The 1980s were experiencing a boom in software and computers, in particular the personal computer industry. There was a good demand for distributors at the time, with a semi-saturated market, and looking to capitalize on this trend, Kevin O’Leary founded a software company, SoftKey International, with the aim of distributing CD-ROM-based software for Mac and Windows computers.
With his keen business acumen, Kevin set sail on this new venture but worked out of his basement since he had to take a loan of $10,000 from his mother as additional investment money. Nevertheless, Kevin and his associates managed to keep the company going, feeding off the peak of computer and software growth.
In the 1900s, SoftKey would face more competition but still endure and create numerous more educational software products primarily for home users. Soon, SoftKey became a household name, acquiring multiple rival companies like WordStar and Spinnaker Software, in the journey to massive success.
It was in 1995 that SoftKey would next acquire The Learning Company (TLC) for a whopping $606 million! Soon after, they adopted the name officially and began to get acknowledged as one of the fastest-growing companies in Canada.
Wanting to take advantage of his prosperous situation, Kevin agreed to sell his company to Mattel as an acquisition for $4.2 billion in 1999. This decision was a sincerely timed finality, having made millions from their sales so far.
Almost immediately, Kevin quit his position at TLC, being a good market reader. And not long after, Mattel experienced a huge drop in sales, following which Mattel shareholders sued Kevin O’Leary along with Mattel executives. The charges of misleading the health of TLC were later disputed as Kevin blamed the management culture clash and failed acquisition of technology between the two entities.
O’Leary credits his success in marketing to his time at Nabisco, having gained a hands-on approach to what works and how to make strategies work. And the time spent on advancing SoftKey became a milestone and a stepping stone for Kevin’s personal development toward becoming a business mogul.
Kevin raises his Net Worth as a Venture Capitalist
Kevin O’Leary’s net worth took a prosperous turn in 2003 with his next venture, StorageNow Holdings, as its co-investor. The firm is a distributor of climate-friendly storage facilities and a string of further acquisitions and development projects later, StorageNow is the third most prominent operator of storage facilities.
The firm manages products for major brands like Pfizer and Merck. Following StorageNow’s influential success, Storage REIT, a competitor, managed to purchase it for 110 million dollars in 2007.
Later, Mr. Wonderful would go ahead and sell his shares for 4.5 million dollars.
Raising the Bar for Financial Success
Kevin’s status as a television personality became an uncontrollable yearning as he saw personal success in his life. With the confidence he gained from having made it big, Kevin reached out to Jack Fleischmann, general manager of BNN, formerly ROBTv.
From there, having gained the thumbs up from Jack, he was offered a role on BNN’s show, Squeezeplay. The next six years taught him the nuances of television entertainment with co-star Amanda Lang.
Then in 2006, Kevin found a bigger break by being cast alongside five venture capitalists on the Dragon’s Den, a CBC show. His on-screen persona was a blunt, straightforward investor, treading the lines of being a bully, a trait much-encouraged by the show’s producers. His abrasive behavior spared no contestant or co-investor, giving him a villainous effect that is renowned today.
Kevin made it big on the Canadian version of Dragon’s Den, however, fate had better plans for him in waiting. Mark Burnett was in charge of casting for ABC’s Shark Tank, the American version of Dragon’s Den. His experience with hit TV shows like The Apprentice and Survivor led him to take notice of Kevin.
Kevin’s obvious theatrical attitude combined with his knowledge and wit led to his landing the role of a Shark on the show. While making smart decisions on investing, Kevin O’Leary soon established himself as a caustic person, always opinionated, but also in demand.
And even though he was highly competitive with his co-Sharks, they would wait for his opinion on the topic at hand before making their final judgment.
Kevin O’Leary’s experience on both reality shows earned him the nickname Mr. Wonderful, a reference to his caustic persona in combination with his blunt feedback to help misguided entrepreneurs find their way forward.
Kevin owns a holding company called Something Wonderful to manage his various investments on the show, some of which notably were GrooveBook, Zipz, and Talbott Teas.
Kevin O’Leary’s Political Fling
The Canadian Businessman shifted his focus to politics and after months of speculation, he announced his entry into the race for Conservative Leadership in January 2017. In a video announcement posted on his website, O’Leary said that he planned to run a “no-nonsense campaign” that would focus on cutting taxes and regulations and getting Canada’s economy back on track.
He was often compared to Donald Trump on many accounts but always rebuffed such speculations firmly. Noting a lack of support from Quebec residents, Kevin O’Leary decided to withdraw from the leadership race in April 2017 citing that it would be selfish of him to continue despite the meager support in Quebec since it would also be a deterrent in beating Justin Trudeau in the 2019 elections.
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Kevin O’Leary: Net Worth building Ventures
O’Leary Fine Wines
Kevin O’Leary’s love for wines cumulated into his business venture, O’Leary Fine Wines in 2007. The company began as a Canadian distributor, now a major Wine provider in the country selling both red and white wines, as well as a handful of sparkling wines and dessert wines.
The unique collection of wines comes at great value, offering something for every person’s unique taste, thereby building a dedicated customer base. Although majorly an online store, O’Leary Fine Wines exists at a retail location in Toronto.
O’Leary Books
Kevin O’Leary is a well-known business figure, and his books offer readers an inside look at his life and career. In “Cold Hard Truth: On Business, Money, and Life,” O’Leary shares his no-nonsense approach to business and wealth-building. He candidly discusses the successes and failures of his own career, offering readers valuable insights into the world of business.
“The Cold Hard Truth on Men, Women, and Money” is a more personal look at O’Leary’s life, delving into his relationships with family and friends. In this book, he offers advice on financial matters ranging from saving for retirement to investing in property.
“Cold Hard Truth on Family, Kids, and Money” is geared toward parents who want to teach their children about money management. O’Leary offers tips on everything from allowance to college savings, providing readers with the tools they need to instill good financial habits in their children.
Whether you’re looking for business advice or guidance on personal finances, Kevin O’Leary’s books offer something for everyone.
O’Leary Funds Management
As a co-founder, Kevin O’Leary serves as the Chairman and Lead Investor of O’Leary Funds, his own mutual fund company that focuses on global yield investing. Kevin’s brother Shane O’Leary serves as its Director.
Under Kevin’s leadership, the assets grew from $400 million to $1.2 billion in just a year. The primary manager of the fund was Stanton Asset Management.
Numerous analyses on funds collection showed inconsistencies in the returning capital of shareholders and the company had to pay penalties for violating specific technical provisions as stated in the Securities Act. In 2015, the firm was bought by Canoe Financial, another private investment management company owned by W. Brett Wilson, a co-investor in the Dragon’s Den.
O’Shares ETF Investments
In July 2015, Kevin O’Leary lay the foundation for Exchange-Traded Fund (ETF) through his new venture O’Shares Investments which is a division of O’Leary Funds Management. In addition to advising on personal finance, Kevin also advocates the concept of Portfolio Diversification.
According to him, the investors’ age represents the % of bonds in the portfolio. Say, for example, for a 30-year-old investor it would be 30% bonds and 70% stocks where the proportion of stocks would decrease and the proportion of bonds would increase as the investor ages.
Kevin also refuses to trade in publicly-traded stocks unless they pay him a decent dividend. Another of his pieces of advice is to practice diversification in multiple industries to allow no more than 20% of the financial portfolio to be accountable to a single sector.
Kevin O’Leary’s Personal Life
Kevin is married to Linda O’Leary since 1990. They had a brief separation of two years in 2011 post which they resumed their life together. The mother of two children, Linda currently serves as the VP of Marketing for O’Leary Fine Wines.
Kevin lives with his family in Miami Beach, with more properties in Toronto, Ontario, Switzerland, Geneva, and Boston.
So, what is Kevin O’Leary worth today?
Kevin O’Leary believes in taking risks, but not just any risks. Those that are calculated through his viewpoint and filtered through his critical thinking. This mentality is what keeps Kevin O’Leary looking sharp in his investment portfolio and more to come.
Being an entrepreneur, investor, author, politician, and TV personality, Kevin O’Leary’s net worth is estimated to be $400 million dollars. Apart from having numerous luxurious properties, a diversified financial portfolio, a career in TV entertainment, and more, it is Kevin’s various successful investments as a Shark that keep his net worth growing substantially by the day.
Final Thoughts on Mr. Wonderful Net Worth
Mr. Wonderful is a very successful investor, and it’s no wonder that he has accumulated such a large net worth. He is a very savvy businessman, and he has made some great investments over the years. He owns several businesses, and he has also invested in real estate. He has done very well for himself, and his net worth is proof of that.
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